This invention relates generally devices and methods for supporting and manipulating a patient's leg and foot during surgery (e.g., hip joint surgery) or diagnostic procedure. More specifically, this invention relates to a devices and methods for guiding and applying fraction to a patient's leg during surgery or diagnostic procedure.
During surgery on a patient's leg (e.g., hip or knee surgery), certain positions and orientations of the leg may be preferred by the surgeon. For example, during one phase of hip surgery, the surgeon may want to place the patient's leg in tension (i.e., traction), whereas in another phase of hip surgery, the surgeon may want to rotate the patient's leg about a certain axis while maintaining traction. Moreover, in some cases, the surgeon may want to maintain traction or a particular rotational orientation of the patient's leg while adjusting the other. For example, during a hip replacement surgery, the patient typically lies on an operating table having a leg holding and support device attached thereto. The leg holding and support exerts tension on the patient's leg while holding the patient's leg in one or more desired positions to facilitate the surgery.
Some conventional leg holding and support devices enable traction to be applied to the patient's leg, but provide limited, if any, ability to simultaneously rotate the patient's leg about one or more axes. Other conventional leg holding and support devices enable rotation of the patient's leg about one or more axes, but do not provide the ability to independently control and adjust the rotation of the patient's leg about different axes. Still other conventional leg holding and support devices enable traction and rotation of the patient's leg about an axis simultaneously, but do not allow adjustment of one while maintaining the other.
Most conventional surgical tables designed for use in leg surgeries include a perineal post that is fixed to the table and positioned between the patient's legs against the perineum. The perineal post functions to maintain the patient's position on the surgical table while the patient's leg is pulled inferiorly (i.e., generally away from the patient's torso). This enables the application of inferior traction to the patient's leg by applying tension generally along the length of the leg. However, for some surgeries and diagnostic evaluations, it may be desirable to apply dorsal fraction to the femur to distract the hip joint ventrally. Although conventional surgical tables and associated traction devices enable the application of inferior traction, they provide very limited, if any, ability to controllably apply dorsal or ventral traction to the femur.